This was an amazing show (and not just because he signed my ticket and wished me an early happy birthday). EC did a solo show--just him, three or four guitars he swtiched whenever the mood struck him, and a table with water, tea and throat spray. Having just him and the guitar breathed new life into a lot of the songs he played. AND, when he ended the show with "Scarlet Tide", he changed the last line to, "did I hear a black bell ring/from the highest dome/admit you lied/and bring the boys back home". DAMN.

Set list:

Red Shoes
45
Rocking Horse Road/Wild Thing (!)
Brilliant Mistake
A song from 1975 that I'd never heard before
Veronica
Our Little Angel
River in Reverse
All This Useless Beauty
Every Day I Write the Book
New Amsterdam/Hide Your Love Away
Hans Christian Andersen Song #1 ("How deep is the red our redeemer bled")
HCA song #2 (Barnum and Lind)
HCA song #3 ("She handed me a mirror")
Country darkness
Needle Time
Alison
God's Comic (extensive chatter about how sacreligious the song was, and how he knew She (!) was pissed about it)
Radio Sweetheart/Jackie Wilson Said
Encores:
What's So Funny
I Want You (creepier and creepier every time I hear him do it live)
HCA song #4 (slave ship)
Mystery Dance
Delivery Man
Scarlet Tide

There weren't a lot of people waiting for him backstage, so he was gracious and leisurely with all of us. Best show ever.

Last edited by SoLikeCandy on Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

If there's one thing you can say about mankind--there's nothing kind about man

Unfettered from side players and recently past the task of writing his first opera, Elvis Costello played a wide-ranging and crowd-pleasing solo show Saturday at Clowes Hall.

The audience -- marking the 150th anniversary of Butler University -- heard Costello before seeing him, as he strummed guitar chords from the wings and then swung for the fences with opening number "The Angels Want To Wear My Red Shoes."

He quickly served notice that his voice remains one of rock's true marvels. It can be soothing, weepy and cruel all at once.
For a counterpoint, he employed an acoustic guitar that featured a raw jangle and distorted electric tones when needed.

It would have been fine if Costello played that instrument all night, but a hollow-bodied electric model did help him approximate dreamy echoes of Roy Orbison during "She Handed Me a Mirror."

"Mirror" was an unexpected treat, freshly picked from "The Secret Songs of Hans Christian Andersen" -- the opera that Costello unveiled this month in Copenhagen, Denmark.

It's rare to hear a crowd audibly wince at the opening line of a brand-new song, but Costello has mustered one of his all-time lyrical zingers with "Mirror."

The set-up: Famed author Andersen hoped to win the hand of 19th century vocalist Jenny Lind. Hinting at a self-deprecating parallel between himself and wife Diana Krall, Costello told the audience that Andersen was no matinee idol.

So how did Lind tell Andersen that their love would never bloom? She gave him a mirror.

Costello generously shared three more tunes from "Secret Songs," plus the riled emotions of "River in Reverse." Not far from the revered realm of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," "River" answers the fallout of Hurricane Katrina by questioning a government ruled by "money and superstition."

Elsewhere, Costello was something that unplugged singer-songwriters usually aren't: a ham.
After giving exceptionally strong efforts, he stalked the stage to coax large ovations. "Every Day I Write the Book," "Veronica" and "Needle Time" (from last year's "Delivery Man" album) undoubtedly earned their hoots and hollers.

And by tucking bits of the Beatles' "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away," Van Morrison's "Jackie Wilson Said" and the Troggs' "Wild Thing" into his own songs, Costello gave the crowd three more reasons to cheer.

Yep, I'm reviewing it--I just turned in the final version of the review last night. You'll be able to find it Wednesday afternoon at http://www.nuvo.net --and, with luck, I'll be writing for them part-time. I sat by the associate editor of the paper at the concert, and he was very impressed with my first piece. Whee!

Last edited by SoLikeCandy on Mon Oct 17, 2005 1:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

If there's one thing you can say about mankind--there's nothing kind about man

Mary and I are still on a lucky Elvis streak--we got to the
campus mid-afternoon hoping to find out something about the lecture he was scheduled to give to students. The theater was closed so we wandered
into the
next building and asked some students if they knew about it. After a
couple of
blank stares in reply, Mary took a walk around and found a bulletin
board with the
lecture notice. We were just in time to catch it at 4pm if they would
let us in.
Piece o' cake. Walked back over to the theater just as they were about
to open
the doors and got right in. No security, no ID required. Couldn't
believe it.
The gathering was in the basement conference room of the theater and
there were
60 people max, mostly students, a few faculty members, and 2 very lucky
fans. We
sat in the back (7th) row and didn't have to wait long for Elvis to
appear. He wore a
black western shirt with white piping and white musical notes
embroidery, blue
jeans, and black boots. He had a guitar with him. No sign of Diana or
Paddy. He sat up
front with a guy we assume was a faculty member. For the first hour, he
answered
questions from the faculty member and from the audience--talked about
his
career, his collaborations, his lack of ambition (!), the music biz,
and the sad
state of radio. Played Red Shoes and TDM. Talked about the race to
finish Secret Songs in the weeks before the Denmark shows. He said he was
so far behind that he locked himself up and refused calls so he could
get it finished. Had a great story about Steve's daughter getting a job
with a record company when she was a teen and being paid to listen to
demo tapes! Someone asked him about the bass lines in Chelsea and Bedlam,
and he seemed to give equal credit to Bruce and Davey for their talent.
For the last half hour they'd scheduled 3 student performances for
him--a jazz vocal group, a cellist, and a pianist. The vocal group sang a
sort of jazzy multi-part harmony version of "People Will Say We're in
Love," followed by the cellist and pianist who played their own
compositions. After each performance he talked about the composition, style,
meter, figures, rhythm, etc, and asked the students questions. After the
jazz vocal, he talked about his favorite American songwriters. The
piano student gave him a handwritten copy of her composition to keep. He
was gracious and enthusiastic about the performances and I think the
students in the audience (many of whom weren't very familiar with him or
his music) were impressed. Near the end of the session, he asked what
Homecoming was and that got a big laugh. We really enjoyed sitting in the
back and taking in the whole spectacle. Reminded me a little of the
Musicians taping in NYC on a smaller scale. Speaking of--the whole thing
was filmed, but I never thought to ask the camera operator what was
going to happen to the film until just now. Duh.

The show itself was probably the best I've seen since July 04. His
voice is back, thankfully, and he was showing it off nicely on songs like
River in Reverse. Still using the throat spray however. The sound was
fabulous--it was a real pleasure to hear him sing solo again. Great
audience--you could hear a pin drop during most of the quieter songs. It
would have been the perfect place to sing off mic, but he didn't and we
couldn't figure out why he would pass up the opportunity. Very happy that
he decided to play several of the Secret Songs however. Hope he records
them some day. Nice crowd waiting outside afterward and he spent quite
a bit of time talking and signing the way he did after the Univ of
Chicago show a few years back--very relaxed and chatty. Mary had him sign
her unused, unsold Denmark ticket and he wrote "Sorry you missed it!"
Drove back to Chicago right after the show chugging Red Bull along the
way--can't pull off those all-nighters the way I used to...

Elvis Costello plays for Butler University students last Saturday, prior to the Clowes Hall performance.

Costello at Butler“Be ruthless with yourself”Jim Poyser

Last Saturday afternoon, some 75 Butler University students and faculty members gathered in the Clowes Hall Krannert Room for an informal, intimate conversation with Elvis Costello. He began by warning students that he had no advice whatsoever for those interested in exploring careers in the contemporary music business.

Elvis Costello plays for Butler University students last Saturday, prior to the Clowes Hall performance.He claimed to have no real ambition as he was beginning his career; he felt his success was “all by chance” and the simple fact that he “collided with a time when they [labels and music execs] were looking for people who didn’t fit in.”

He intimated these days the very opposite largely seemed to be true.

Current radio, in its strict, formatted mode, is “the death of imagination.” He expressed interest in satellite radio, but suggested there should be a “shuffle” band that randomizes all the separate streams of broadcast into one completely unpredictable songlist.

It turned out Costello did have some advice: In honing one’s artistic voice, “be ruthless with yourself.”

Moderated by Marc Allan, the festivities included two performances by Costello: “Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes” and “Delivery Man.” Then, he received three performances from Butler University music students. The Jordan Jazz vocal ensemble sang an a cappella, jazz-arranged version of “People Will Say We’re in Love,” from the musical Oklahoma. Biljana Bozinovska impressed all with her cello composition. Finally, Miho Sasaki played a piano work that turned out to have a random construction: Discrete passages are composed by Sasaki, but the order in which they are played is decided by the individual musician performing the piece.

Costello was sincerely impressed with all three pieces, calling Sasaki’s composition “ingenious.” He and the students exchanged ideas on musical theory and, at one point, Costello expounded upon American composers, concluding that Richard Rogers is his favorite.

Afterward, the line was long for personal greetings. Costello stayed until each person had a chance to give thanks and pay honor.